Tank puts extra $1400 plus in retirement fund

I did two things in recent weeks that, after taxes, will put about $1400 more in my pocket this year.

I cut off a smartphone I rarely used. I’ve replaced it with a pre-paid flip phone that has $200 in credit on it already. Money saved = $450 per year in not paying for a monthly plan.

I recently completed an Occupational First Aid Level 2 course. I wanted to quit every single day. The information is great to know, but it was the most challenging course I’ve ever done. (And I’ve done first aid in the past as both a fitness instructor and rescue-level scuba diver.) This nearly killed little old me, but I survived and passed the seven hour exam. Workplaces in B.C. have to, by law, pay certification holders a stipend. It ain’t much — a few bucks an hour — but every penny counts. Worth about $700 a year after taxes.

I did a couple of other things – a recycling project that’s extending the life of some of my electronics.

Sold my old iPhone5 and Blackberry Q10 to a Toronto company that buys back electronics. Mine were in great condition and if all goes well, that’s another $70 for me.

I’m learning to code, which is a nightmare on a 12-inch MacBook Air. I toyed with buying an iMac or a MacBook Pro with a larger screen. What I really needed was a monitor. That’s where my 21-inch Toshiba TV came in. It has been sitting on a shelf collecting dust (I’m not bringing maids in as often as in the past) since I cut off cable a year ago. Guess what? With the proper adapter, which I already had, it’s serving now as a computer monitor. That’s a saving of a few hundred bucks and I won’t have to replace my laptop in the near future.

All that said, it was time for a new router. The old one was at least seven years old. New one cost me $111 with taxes. Got great service at London Drugs.